Trusts & Foundations
As the world’s leading offshore centre, Mauritius is an ideal and attractive place to set up trusts and foundations. With a strategical location between Europe and Asia while being well connected to the rest of the world, Mauritius is fast becoming a leading jurisdiction area for private client services. With the combination of financial and non-financial advantages such as long-term political and economic stability, multilingual professional talents as well as a large international banking network and modern laws, Mauritius has quickly become the first choice of jurisdiction for professional advisers and their high net worth clients.
Why Mauritius Trust?
Basically, trust means when the client (principal) delegates legal ownership of the asset/wealth to the trustee who manages and exercises administration of these assets for the benefit of potential beneficiaries or specific purposes.
Based on British common law, Mauritius Trust Act released in 2001 is one of the most advanced and innovative trust laws in the world which can address most issues related to private wealth management with many possible uses, including but not limited to:
- Wealth accumulation and preservation
- Tax planning
- Asset protection
- Legacy and integration rules
- Industrial financing/asset financing
- holding investments and intellectual property
- Protecting inheritance by avoiding mandatory inheritance rules
Additional Info
Types of trust
Various types of trusts are allowed to be set up according to Mauritian law including fixed, discretionary, protective, purposive and charitable trusts.
Key features of Mauritius trust
It has no qualification of legal person: it is a private arrangement made for the benefit of the beneficiary between the trustee and the principal
It may be revoked or irrevocable
The legal ownership of the trust property shall be entrusted to the trustee for control and management
The number of trustees shall not exceed four and at least one qualified trustee is required
It has no registration or reporting requirements
The role of the protector is to ensure that the trustee shall be appointed in accordance with the trust agreement
The executor must enforce the trust by a purpose trust Non-resident trust is free of tax
Confidentiality
There are no registration or reporting requirements for trusts, so confidentiality is enshrined in Mauritius Trust Act where any confidential information can be disclosed only when permitted.
Trust tax
In the non-Mauritius resident trust, the principle and beneficiary could enjoy Mauritius income tax by applying for a non-resident declaration if they satisfy the non-resident status of Mauritius in any financial year.